gods

I watched with horror with the rest of you the terror unfold in Paris this week.   I am embarrassed to say that I understand very little about ISIS, what they are trying to accomplish, and why they would do the things they do.  One of my pastors posted this link to an article.  Unlike the usual 50-word rant that we usually see on Facebook, this was an in depth article on the subject.  Most of it was new to me, and I ended up spending most of the morning trying to understand.  What I took from the article is that ISIS is not a fragmented group of lunatics being recruited on the internet to kill people.  While this may happen, this is not what ISIS is.  ISIS is a group of people led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi who intend to follow the literal instructions laid out in the Koran that will culminate in the apocalypse.   ISIS follows the takfiri doctrine which is determined to purify the world by removing any person that does not believe as they do.  Sound familiar?  I believe we are all fully aware of the parallel evil experienced by those who were living 75 years ago.   And while the crusades of the middle ages have been characterized as religious zealots seeking to build their political kingdom, the leaders of that time were actually battling the same forces that we are now battling 1000 years later.   I believe that the collective “we” need to do whatever is necessary to thwart the people who believe their god is requiring them to rape, enslave and murder innocent people, and I rejoice in the fact that their god is not my God.